Emotional Encoding
I believe I did fairly well in the game of encoding last week. The only reason that could happen was because I am a professional on-stage theater dance and drama performer. I have been doing this for the last 20 odd years and enjoy emoting my sentences and dialogue delivery to the greatest extent. Unfortunately this does not help me as a manager in the technical industry dealing with customers everyday. I have had people tell me, more as a constructive feedback, that I need to develop a poker face and emote less. As the professor mentions in her blog, positive emotions are always a boost to the parties involved in a conversation but when trying to be diplomatic and resolve controversial situations in a professional atmosphere, a poker face might help me better (instead of getting me in trouble :)) otherwise. My husband who is employed in a similar role in the marketing department in a different organization than I has observed that he is more successful as a customer facing individual than I who expresses her emotions on the face while trying to be neutral in the dialogue delivery to get work done.
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Priya, although you have had some troubles with the amount of acting you have done in the past, I think with a little work you could harness that talent. You have learned how to project your emotions clearly so everyone can see, and that sounds like it can be useful as a manager or even a customer facing employee if you can understand when to use it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, mastering when to use specific emotions is as difficult if not harder than portraying the emotions clearly. I know this may sound corny, but you may want to try putting yourself into a "character" at work or in different situations that are best suited for that moment. No one has said you can't bring theater into the work place!
I wish that acting/role playing was a larger part of our education system. I understand it is hard to implement, but really useful especially when portraying emotions is concerned. We are born with the ability to feel and how to do some basic communications, but displaying emotions is a learned behavior and we all could use a little guidance.
Overall it is a difficult process and some people will struggle with portraying emotions and others will need help with knowing when to hold back.
I definitely have to agree with you Priya. In almost 3 years that I know you you are one of those people that clearly show in your face and expression what you are truly feeling. Although showing some emotions is important to build and strengh relationship with customers and coworkers, there is also some emotions that should be either avoided or hidden, which I also believe you know how to do when it is necessary. I did play poker with you in the past and believe that - when you need to - you know how to play the game.
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